Marine life-saving appliance



Jul 22 192.4. 1,502,543

I M. D. BODDY F'iled June 26, 1923 FAQL Patented July 22, 1924.

IVIARLETT DAWES IBODIDY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

MARINE LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCE.

Application fi1ed June 26, 1923. Serial No. 647,871. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it, known that I, MARLETT DAwEs BoDnY, a subject of theKing of Great Britain, of 12 Dartmouth Place, Blackheath,

5 London, S. E. 10, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Marine Life-Saving Appliances; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, exact description of the same.

p The present invention relates to marine life-saving appliances of any kind employing cork blocks to give the necessary buoyancy, and it has for its general object to provide an improved construction of such which will be more comfortable and less dangerous to wear than such appliances generally are.

i It has been found by experience that when a person jumps into the sea from a vessel the shock of striking'the water tends to displace any life-saving appliance worn by the person violently upwards and if the appliance contains cork blocks theseare likely to cause damage-to the wearers head which clear, and

may resultin producing insensibility or in some cases even in breaking the wearers neck. Loss of consciousness causes the wearers head to drop forwardly with the result that the balance of the wearer and the life-saving appliance is destroyed so that the wearers mouth may remain under water until he becomes drowned. Further in rough water the wearers head is likely to become damaged by blows given thereto by the cork blocks due to the buffeting of the waves.

More specifically the primary object of this invention is to obviate the above described disadvantages-by providing an improved construction of appliance in which a pad of soft material, such as kapok, or the equivalent thereof, is disposed between the cork blocks and the chin of the wearer, and forms a soft cushioning member adapted to absorb shocks or blows from the cork blocks.

A further object is to enable the appliance to be used with safety by either children or adults, and a .still further object is to so construct the appliance that it is reversible, i. e. is perfectly safe whichever way it is put on by the wearer. Still another object is to provide a construction which will enable the use of kapok, or the like, to be entirely dispensed with; J"

In constructing the improved appliance 1n accordancewith my invention the cork blocks of the appliance are cut away to N form a recess beneath the chin of the wearer and some means of a soft nature are pr vided for preventing the chin of the wearer from entering the recess. Such means may consist of kapok or like padsplaced the recess, or may consist of a band of canvas or other textile material stretched across the mouth of the recess.

, Further features of the invention will appear from the following description of the accompanying drawings illustrating the same and, from the. claims more particularly defining the invention, which are appended hereto and form part of this specification.

In the drawings i c Figure 1 is a plan view of one construction of appliance laid out flat,

, Figure 2 is a similar view of a second construction of appliance,

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the second construction of appliance fastened as it would be upon a persons body, and

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are perspective plan views of threexother constructions of appliance when laid out flat.

In Figures 1, 4:, 5 and6 the invention is shown applied in three different manners to life-saving appliances of the circular type, consisting of front and rear buoyant compartments connected by textile material 1 provided with a head opening 2 between the compartments, the whole being surrounded by a peripheral hem 3 of textile material containing draw strings 4 by which the side portions 5 of the hem may be con tracted beneath the armpits of a wearer whose arms are passed through the arm holes 6. H I

, v In Figures 2 and 3 the invention is shown applied to life-saving appliances of, the reversible waistcoat type which comprises a rear compartment connected at each end by portions oftextile material each having an arm hole 7 therein to a front buoyant compartment, draw strings 4 being provided for tightening up the appliance and securing it to the wearer in well known manner. When in use, as shown in Figure 3, the two front buoyant compartments come together and are exactly equivalent in buoyancy and buoyant action to the 'rear' compartment, so that the appliancem'ay be put on back to front without affecting its action. Similarly the appliance is such that it may be put on either way up without affecting its action; s

Referring to Figures 1' and 4: the front and back buoyant compartments consist of or contain cork blocks 8 arranged in pairs, and according to the invention the adjacent corners of each block nearest the head'openh1g2 are cut' away: In Figureftherecesses soformed are filled with pads 9 stuffed with kapok or other buoyant material of a soft nature, thesepadsnot only serving as a soft cushion for the wearers chinbut alsopreventing uprush' of'water through the space between the edges wearers mouth, i

In "Figures 2 and 3 recesses are formed centrallyun'the upper and lower edges of the cork blocks 10 of the back compartment, and the upper and lower meeting corners of the front compartments 11 are cut away, softhat reces'ses are formed when the applianceis'fastened with the edges of the front compartments meeting. The recesses in the rear compartment are filled with kapok or like pads l2 and the corners of the front compartments are filled in with kapok or like pads 13, these being in size'and shape equal to'ha'lf of' the pads 12. Thus a soft cushion or rest .for' the chin is provided whichever way;up or whichever way round the appliance is put on by the wearer.

In Figure l recesses are formed in the cork blo'ckssimilarly 'to Figure l,but instead of lilling them in withkapok pads bands 14 ofcanvas, .or other textile material are stretched across the mouths of the recesses, being secured, for example, by stitch ingto the canvas or the'li'ke containing the cork blocks, so as to prevent the wearers chin from entering the recesses and coming into "contact with the cork blocks; It will be, appreciated that as there is no cork immediately beneath the bands 14, no damage is inflicted on the chin by upward movements of the appliance If found necessary in "order to keep the bands 14 sufiiciently taut I may provide rigid stiffening members 15 of wood, or the like, across the cork blocks to prevent them fromhinging in relation to' each other.

' In Figure 5 the construction is similar to I that of F igure 1' except that single cork blocks are used for the backand front compartments respectively, thereby avoiding of the blocks -into the triangular bag 17 of textile material stufied with kapok, or the like, the base of the bag 17 being adjacent the neck opening of the appliance. Theablocks 16 may be scent. that the bag 17 extendsonly partly or gvhollly as shown from top to bottom of the locrs. r

In the foregoing constructions inwhich kapok pads are used, the elficiency 'offthe" appliance will be somewhat increased owing to the greater buoyancy of kapok than that: of an' eqn'al volume of cork. "It will be ob; vious that if desired only the front compartments may be recessed as hereinbefore described, in which case the appliance would not becompletely reversible. Further the appliances shown'in Figures 1, 1 and 5' may be'rec'essed in" the lower edges of their compartments in desired.

What I claim is i i a 1. A marine life-saving appliance of the kind set forth comprising in "combination" a buoyant compartment formed of solid cork, a recess in the edge of said compartment,

addition to the upper edges, if

which lies nearest'the head ofithe wearer,

and means of a soft nature associated with said recess for preventing the chin of the wearer from entering therein.

'2. A marine lifesaving appliance comprising front and back'buoyant compartments madeof cork blocksfa textile support for said compartments, a neck opening in said support between the front and back compartments, arm holes in said support at thesides of said compartments, draw strings for contracting the periph ery ofsaid support, recesses in the cork blocks adj acentthe a packing of kapok in disposed side by side and having their adjacent edges cut away to form a V-shaped recess between the blocks and a triangular bag filled with kapok is disposed in said recess.

5. In a marine life-saving appliance a rectangular cork block recessed centrally of one of its longest edges, and a pad of kapok disposed in said recess to complete the rectangular shape of said block.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARLETT DAWES BODDY. l/Vitnesses:

CHARLES S. PARSONS, A. B. TOMKINS. 

